Back in the beginning of the year Covid-19 was not making me happy. I was freaking out in January and in the beginning of February. Information out of China was obviously doctored (death and infected counts happened to be at a constant ratio to each other for a whole week). It was clear that it was airborne, and seemingly China felt that locking up 23 million people was the right thing to do.
Compared to that potential outcome, and now in September 2020 things are not that bad. Even in a shithole country like the US there are enough ICU beds right now.
Covid being a drama is now part of peoples news habit. Much like its absence was early in the year. When I freaked out. I still would freak out based on the information I had: Back then nobody really knew how lethal it is. African swine fever killed probably 40 million pigs in China alone. Biologically there is not that much difference between a pig and a human. For a virus the difference is far smaller than if you are sitting in a Boeing 747 or Boeing 747sp of the same built year.
Of course pigs have considerable less favorable living conditions. The worst of the worst that people ever had to endure is barely touching what the best of standard farming has to offer for that species. That makes a difference. A big one. In life enjoyment and in the spread of infectious diseases alike. Biologically there isn’t anything that would magically protect us from being a potential victim of a virus like ASF.
Compared to that outcome we did win. And we lucked out, since Covid is not ASF. And medical care for pigs is not on the same level than it is for humans.
Yes, I know, close to a million people have died from Covid. A horrible death. They and the people who knew them would beg to differ that we won. But still: This could have been so much worse. People overall behaved much better than I have anticipated. Team human won. This round. Again.